Coupled Oscillations

Many important physics systems involved coupled oscillators. Coupled oscillators are oscillators
connected in such a way that energy can be transferred between them. The motion of coupled
oscillators can be complex, and does not have to be periodic. However, when the oscillators carry
out complex motion, we can find a coordinate frame in which each oscillator oscillates with a
very well defined frequency.
A solid is a good example of a system that can be described in terms of coupled oscillations.
The atoms oscillate around their equilibrium positions, and the interaction between the atoms is
responsible for the coupling. To start our study of coupled oscillations, we will assume that the
forces involved are spring-like forces (the magnitude of the force is proportional to the
magnitude of the displacement from equilibrium).

Two Coupled Harmonic Oscillators

Consider a system of two objects of mass M. The two objects are attached to two springs with
spring constants k (see Figure 1). The interaction force between the masses is represented by a
third spring with spring constant k12, which connects the two masses.

Figure 1. Two coupled harmonic oscillators.

We will assume that when the masses are in their equilibrium position, the springs are also in
their equilibrium positions. The force on the left mass is equal to
F1=-kx1+k12(x2-x1) = M

x 1

1
The force on the right mass is equal to
F2=-kx2+k12(x1-x2) = M

x 2

Since it is reasonable to assume that the resulting motion has an oscillatory behavior, we
consider following trial functions:

x1(t)=B1 e

iwt

x2(t)=B2 e

iwt

3
4

Substituting these trial functions into the equations of motion we obtain the following conditions:
(k + k12 M2)B1 k12B2 = 0
5
k12B1 + (k + k12 M2)B2 = 0
These equations only will have a non-trivial solution if
k + k 12 M 2
k 12
=0
k 12
k + k 12M 2

Note: the trivial solution is B1 = B2 = 0. The requirement for a non-trivial solution requires that
the angular frequency of the system is equal to one of the following two characteristic
frequencies (the so called eigen frequencies):
k +2 k 12
1
7
M

k
2 M

For each of these frequencies, we can easily determine the amplitudes B1 and B2.
And, we can find out the variation of position with time easily by using Eulers Method

Weak Coupling
Coupled oscillations, involving a weak coupling, are important to describe many physical
systems. For example, in many solids, the force that tie the atoms to their equilibrium positions
are very much stronger than the inter-atomic coupling forces. In the example we discussed in the
pervious section, the weak coupling limit requires that 12 << . In this approximation we can
show (see text book for details) that our solutions have a high-frequency component that
oscillates inside a slowly varying component (see Figure 3). The solutions are thus sinusoidal
functions with a slowly varying amplitude.

Figure 3. Examples of solution in the weak-coupling limit.